WAGS 20.03.2019 Bensafrim: A Bid for Freedom - a WEXIT Tale

Rod having been denied the chance (in his own words) " to ameliorate my (Rod's) shame", by Terry's offer to lead last week, he proposed the expiatory walk undertaken this week from the same venue as, the walk he had cancelled on 6th March, Bensafrim Market. The 'shame' was having called off his walk early on the 6th, he had been outflanked by the LO Hopes, who had gone ahead based on the rather flimsy forecast on John's 'Windy' weather App.
    Now any group other than the WAGS would have had a Rule to cover such an eventuality ie a rebellion against authority, an unsanctioned walk, led by a rebel minority, but as WAGS it was taken in our stride (see what I did there?).  Rod appeared almost unoffended, they walked, got wet and blogged it .
   In fact the only penalty John paid for his derring do, was to be forced to 'grind out' the following week's blog for Terry's Messines walk. That he was a bit miffed at that could only be discerned by those with subtle sensibilities, as he deliberately omitted the traditional Limerick at the end. Anyway that has run its course, and there may have to be a different postscript in future.

     

Seated: Ingrid, Dina, Myriam, Jill, Terry

Standing, Paul, Yves, Rod, Peter

In the absence of a Gorilla Pod, the starter photo was a 2-part affair, and lack of PhotoShop skills forced me to publish them separately.

   We met for coffee  before 10am in Bensafrim Cafe de Mercado.  A really representative European Community with 3 English, 1 Scottish, 1 Belgian, 1 French, 1 German, 1 Portuguese and 1 Chinese having infiltrated the Portuguese.  

    It is no small wonder that events developed as they did!

     I am not sure how much pre-planning Rod had done for the walk, nor what his intentions were, but when I looked south towards the cliffs and the trig point dominating Bensafrim, and idly mentioned that we hadn't been up there for a while he languidly said 'Let's go that way then!'

    And so we set off up the tarmac - not up the North Face, as keen geocacher Mike had once essayed, emerging bloodied but triumphant at the top with another find under his belt - but by the gentler road and path to the west and south of the monolith.

   And from there we had this view.  

 We then moved on for The Obligatory Trig Point Photograph

T.O.T.P.P.

From here we winged it on some narrow hunters' paths along the edge of the escarpment, until we spotted the Bensafrim Water Works buildings and cut through to the road descending back down to the N120, and across.

Negotiating the hunter's paths.

The tarmac (M535) took us up gradually in the direction of Colinas Verdes, but as we reached the high point Rod discovered an attractive looking path taking us in the direction he wanted. After one false attempt, which took us deep into the bundoo, we retraced our steps and took a good but steep path down to the river valley.

It was steeper than it looks!

By this time I was walking with a L I M P (pronounced Limp), but there was one problem. The river actually had water in it where it crossed the main track to Bensafrim. Way above the level that a pair of WAGS walking slippers could handle.   Rod announced a decision point. Follow him further , up and away and cross the river upstream where it would be shallow, or go back to Bensafrim after crossing. My mind was soon made up!  Just at this moment a Lagos Camara utility vehicle hove into view heading in the right direction. Ingrid was too slow to show a leg, but I flagged him down and rode across the water in style - feet dry. 

I was already on board before Peter made a decision!

Through the torrent.........

.......and home and dry

Peter and Yves were too late in their decision-making process to take advantage, though they eventually decided to opt for the shorter version, and set off down stream on the river bank, hoping for some stepping stones or a wooden plank.

Rod and the Foolish Virgins set off uphill on the other side, determined to increase the length and difficulty of the walk and any negotiations..

   Here the parallel between Wexit and Brexit struck me. I (standing in for the majority of the Electorate)  had a managed Wexit, in style with no fuss thanks to a fast decision and immediate action. Wexit means Wexit!

   The French and the Germans (Yves and Peter) had hesitated and imposed difficult conditions. They had to walk along the bank for almost a km before they spotted a gap in the reeds and some stones to assist their transition, and then they had to enter negotiations with a gardener to allow them to cross his backstop to reach the same route as I.   I had to wait more than 10 minutes while they thrashed out their course to the same solution.

   The Remainers led by a Scot, with a couple of English dissenters, a Portuguese, a Belgian and an honorary Portuguese, had a long and more difficult route through the process, taking more time and struggling uphill, only to reach the same conclusion.

  

By the time the Remainers had a chance to cross the river had ebbed, but still potential for disaster!

.

On the bright side for the Remainers was financial gain as Dina found a propitious Euro coin!

Myriam was excited to find a 'Naked Man' Orchid, which fortunately was out of focus in the photo to spare us the full anatomical details.

Tentatively identified by Myriam's China-based Server spy program to be Bird's Foot Trefoil

Any other offers?

 Steam rising from the group after the climb?

On the way back through the village the Remainers encountered a formidable negotiator who had extracted €10 from Tony W after one of his dogs had caused the premature demise of her champion egg-laying hen on a previous visit.

Meanwhile back at the newly managed Barbaro Cafe, the Wexiteers had started to make the hard decisions......

Com ou sem?

The bifanas had been ordered and consumed by the time the Remainers had finished dragging their feet. It was filled with pork from the dish of the day rather than purpose fried bifana steaks, and the bread was rather soggy and difficult to handle. Did not make the Top Ten WAGS Apres Walk  sandwiches, and the TM's (of which there are no photos) apparently did not reach the required standard. Cheap enough though!

The two different routes are shown below. sadly no record was made of the French and German efforts to achieve parity.

Wexit accomplished - no deal

Paul's route - a sensible outing well within WAGS standard

Rod led this variant, which although it looks much lengthier only weighs in at an extra 3 km and  33 minutes, although it involved an extra 132m of climb.

The ever reliable Garmin tells a slightly more favourable tale for Paul's Sensible Walk:-

The moral of the story: When making an exit, decide quickly - go for it and save yourself a lot of time and trouble! Mrs May please note!

The Wexiteers were satisfied and had lost interest in photography by the time the Remainers arrived to partake, so there are no team photos of the feast, except for Myriam's Prato do Dia, Caldeirada de Bacalhau, which was a bit long on Caldeirada and short of Bacalhau according to the indulgee. 

A Final Final limerick in the series ( I promise)

A stroll up the Bensafrim Trig

As a Deal was not very Big

    But the Wexiteers ate,

    The Remainers were late

We had Bifanas of meat of the Pig.